


Those Not Coded

by NotSoScaryStudios



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dreamtale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Errortale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Inktale (Undertale), Angst, Error Sans - Freeform, I’m writing angst oh no, M/M, Nightmare Sans - Freeform, Other, dream sans - Freeform, ink sans - Freeform, slight TW nothing too bad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22954255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotSoScaryStudios/pseuds/NotSoScaryStudios
Summary: Hello! This is my first ever AO3 work, so I’m still trying to figure out what exactly I’m doing. But to start this off, here’s an Undertale AU fanfiction.(The chapters will get longer, I promise)*Also, please check the notes before the story begins for any trigger warnings!*
Relationships: Error/Nightmare, Errorink, Ink/Error, nighterror
Comments: 11
Kudos: 58





	1. [ENTER: Nightmare]

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first ever AO3 work, so I’m still trying to figure out what exactly I’m doing. But to start this off, here’s an Undertale AU fanfiction.
> 
> (The chapters will get longer, I promise)
> 
> *Also, please check the notes before the story begins for any trigger warnings!*

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since Error had last left the white abyss. Two weeks since he had heard another voice. Two weeks since he had seen anyone. Seen anything move. It had driven him insane before, and Error knew full well that it could drive him right back if he let it. Everything had started to blur together. There was no time. There was no space. There was no sound. It was suffocating, but Error didn’t want to leave. He refused to leave the safe, white void. Outside was uncertain. The multiverse was Ink’s domain, and Ink was the most erratic, irregular person that Error had ever come into contact with. On any day, the two could go from friendly conversations to fighting in a second. Two weeks ago was one of those days. Error had gotten hurt, and was still trying to recover from it. There was no pattern. The anti-void had a pattern. It was always the same. 

Until suddenly, it wasn’t. 

There was a static feeling in the air. Error grimaced as a slight shiver went down his spine. It wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation, but it was never pleasant or expected. Error knew what it meant, and it always meant the same thing. It meant that there was someone else in the anti-void, looking for him. Usually, that meant a fight. Error sighed, sitting up for the first time in hours, if not days. He was already playing through different scenarios in his head, tactics to make people leave, different excuses for why he hadn’t destroyed any universes lately. When he turned around to greet his unwelcome guest, he was met with one glowing eye. 

Error took a step back, looking the dark skeleton. The glitch was filled with fear, but that was only natural. It was part of the other skeleton’s aura, that fear. It hung heavy in the anti-void, making the normally suffocating space feel hard to breathe in, hard to move in. The guardian of negativity was in his void. In front of him. The guardian in question, Nightmare, grinned at the darkness in Error’s expression. Both skeletons stared at the other, daring the other to make the first step, say the first word. It only took a few moments, but those moments hung over their heads like an eternity had passed. 

“Hello, old friend. I haven’t heard from you in a while. How have you been? Sitting in this lonely, empty void all by yourself, I see...” Nightmare tsked, shaking his head in mock disappointment. Error only glowered back in response, not wanting to talk. 

“Ah, not very talkative today, are we? Well, I am not here to do harm. I came here because you... reminded me of myself. No one ever notices how you help them survive. No one praises us for keeping the balance. No, they hate us. They only love the ones who want to kill us.” Nightmare slowly started to circle Error, making the glitched skeleton have to turn around to look at his counterpart. That’s when he found his voice. 

“So? Most people want to kill me.” 

“Ah yes, I know the feeling. I understand how you feel. Many, many years ago, when everything was balanced, everybody hated me. Except my brother, Dream.” Nightmare glared slightly, saying the name with distaste. He stopped spinning. “But alas, Dream never noticed when they hurt me. And when I finally snapped, they only hated me more. But they also feared me. My brother feared me, too. And then he tried to attack me. My own brother was trying to hurt me...! Do you have any idea how it feels for the person you trust the most to turn on you like that?”

Beyond all reason, Error felt sympathy for Nightmare’s story. He almost felt bad for the guardian. He couldn’t imagine someone that close betraying him. Error couldn’t imagine trusting anybody that much, but if he ever did, he could almost feel the heartbreak. He didn’t even notice the aura that was affecting him, giving Nightmare a sympathetic frown. 

“That sounds...” Error trailed off now, not able to find the right words. Nightmare only grinned in response, taking a small step towards Error. Too lost in his own thoughts, Error barely noticed he movement. 

“This is why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted you to know that you aren’t alone. I have created a group of monsters who have been deemed as insane by the multiverse, and I want you to help me rule it.” Nightmare grinned as Error contemplated the offer. Nightmare walked behind Error, and started talking in a low voice. Error stiffened in place, startled for a moment before listening to what the guardian was saying. 

“Imagine it. You and I could work together. We could lead, and rule. Together, we could overthrow Dream and Ink and take our rightful thrones as the true rulers of this multiverse. This was how it was always meant to be, Error. And now... we have our chance.” Error nodded as Nightmare talked, a slight smile growing on his face. Not an insane grin like the guardian’s, but a smile nonetheless. “And then, no one will try to harm us. Our stories will finally be heard, and everybody will know that we were never the monsters.”

Error only nodded more, turning to look at Nightmare. The small smile on his face had grown a bit larger.

“We have a deal.”


	2. [ENTER: Ink]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink also exists, and he knows he has issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I finished another chapter! This one’s a biiit shorter, but I got it out a bit less than a week after the first one, which is my goal for this series.

How long had it been? Ink rummaged through the pockets of the jacket tied around his waist, pulling out a small notebook. This notebook had been given to Ink as a gift from Dream. Inside, there was a small calendar. Dream had given the gift to Ink about six months prior, (which Ink now knew due to the calendar,) to help with his scatterbrained tendency to always be late to meetings. 

With the calendar, Ink knew that meetings were always on Wednesdays. He had a special sticker that was placed on every Wednesday to remind him. The sticker was green, but there were other colors in the notebook as well. Red meant the destruction of a universe, blue meant talking to Error, purple meant something important happened. Ink took a lot of pride in this act of creative problem solving. As Ink flipped through the notebook to the date, he noticed something off. There hadn’t been any blue or red stickers placed on the calendar in the past two weeks. 

Ink shook his head slightly. That can’t be right. There was a pattern to Error’s madness, and Ink was good with patterns. This didn’t make any sense. The day after a blue dot, there is usually a red dot, and then another red dot or two a day later. But Ink hadn’t heard from Error in two whole weeks. Ink flipped back to the start of the notebook, six months prior, and double-checked the rest of the calendar. The pattern had never changed before. This wasn’t normal. Ink’s eyelights changed in rapid succession, some of the vials on his sash starting to glow as Ink’s concern started to grow. Ink only flipped through the pages faster, before getting to the latest page and stopping in his tracks. Ink looked back a few pages, looking at the last few weeks, seeing how normal it had been. Seeing how normal it was, until now. 

This couldn’t just be some coincidence, right? The pattern was always the same. Why did it break? The pattern doesn’t break. It shouldn’t break. It can’t break. Ink tried thinking rationally about what could’ve happened, but Ink was never good at being rational. Actually, he was quite the opposite. No matter how hard he tried, everything always seemed so blown out of proportion when he had emotions. Needing emotions or not depended on the current situation. And this would be a good situation for no emotions, but Ink needed to wait for the vials to wear off. That was the worst part about those damned vials, Ink couldn’t turn them on and off as he pleased. 

The vials weren’t wearing off fast enough. Of course, Ink had only been sitting for a few seconds, staring down at the latest page in his calendar. But Ink wasn’t very good when it came to being patient. Ink knew about this this, but knowledge of a problem doesn’t help in the middle of the problem. Knowing that your house is on fire doesn’t help when you’re stuck in the middle of a burning room. 

Ink looked around the Doodlesphere, which he had been sitting in. He waited eagerly for any sign of the destructive skeleton, any glitched out universe or any destruction. But... nothing. There was nothing. Just the pristine AUs, sitting still and perfect, as usual. After two weeks, nothing had changed. Beyond all comprehension, Ink felt worried for Error. He knew this, but was trying to deny it. He was always trying to deny why he wanted to be near the other skeleton. ‘Just to make sure you aren’t destroying anything’, Ink had said two weeks prior when his glitched counterpart asked why he was there. Ink always had an excuse ready. 

Balance. It’s because the balance is off. Since Error hasn’t been destroying, the multiverse might become off balanced, Ink realized with a start. Yes, that’ll make the perfect excuse for any questions. Ink put the notebook back in his pocket, knowing full well that he’ll forget which pocket it’s in or if he even has the notebook at all in a matter of minutes, if not less. It was a Wednesday, which meant that he had a meeting with Dream to get to. 

Just to check up and make sure the multiverse is safe, Dream would always reply when Ink asked why they needed to meet up every single week. Hopefully this meeting would be short, and Ink could go back to sulking in his emotions sooner rather than later. He hated feeling the worse emotions, the self pity and sadness, but Ink knew he needed them. Everybody needed them. 

Because what can exist without balance?


	3. Nightmare’s Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Error goes to Nightmare’s castle and sees that it’s a lot different than he expected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaa I’m so sorry for not updating for so long! With the virus, I have had NO TIME for anything! I’m swamped with work right now, I’m really sorry

When Nightmare had told Error about a group of monsters that had been deemed insane, Error had thought of the group in a building, maybe a large house at best. What he wasn’t expecting was to be greeted with an entire damn castle in front of him. Nightmare must’ve seen the glitch’s expression or felt his awe, because he started to grin. 

“Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Nightmare asked. Error nodded, barely hearing the question as he was preoccupied with looking at the castle. A few moments passed of Error just staring at the castle. Nightmare grabbed Error by the wrist and pulled him inside impatiently, making the other skeleton glitch. 

Error wasn’t sure what he expected inside of the castle, but it definitely wasn’t what he saw. The castle felt darker inside, covered with a red and black color scheme. The walls were covered in red and black tapestries, and most of them were badly ripped. A large staircase led from the first floor to the rooms that seems to be bedrooms on the next floor up. All of the bedroom doors were different, besides the few that were blank. 

‘Go in at your own risk!’ One door said. Another had ‘Don’t feed the animal’ written haphazardly on the door with a small note reading ‘haha, very funny’ next to it. Another one of the doors was just covered with caution tape. It was easy to see which one was Nightmare’s, the door covered with an intricate black and red design. The door without any splintering wood, the one made out of the better material. It’s larger than the others. There is less dust and less dents in the wall near Nightmare’s room. Apparently, all of the other monsters here knew not to fight around Nightmare or his room. 

“The kitchen is on the first floor. Don’t touch anything disgusting in the fridge, unless you want an axe to the head,” Nightmare points to a door next to the staircase. Then he points to the door on the other side of the staircase “that one goes to the armory. Mostly knives and swords, but there are other weapons if you prefer.” 

Error nods slowly, still just trying to take everything in. This is the first time he has been outside of the colorless, silent anti-void in days, and it was a bit overwhelming. Nightmare starts walking up the stairs, bringing Error to one of the blank rooms. Error follows slowly, putting one hand on the railing but quickly taking it off and wiping his hand on his sweatshirt. The railing was sticky with something, probably blood. Error looks at the room. 

“Is that mine?” He asks, still looking around at his surroundings. Nightmare nods and opens the door to show and empty wardrobe and a large, unused bed. Error hesitantly steps into the room, sitting down on the bed. Nightmare watches him, his one visible eyelight squinted slightly, as if judging the glitch. Then he just shrugs and leans on the doorframe. 

“Try not to get on anybody’s bad side, or else I’ll get somebody else to be my second in command. And I’ll move you to one of the rooms with rats.”

“Rats?!” Error screeches and puts his feet up on the bed, looking around for any rats that could be below him. 

“Jeez, I just told you that this was a room WITHOUT rats! Calm down!” Nightmare half-yells with an annoyed scoff. “Grow up, this place is old and huge. I think rats are to be expected in a place like this. Just don’t leave too much food out in your room, or else they’ll stay in here forever.”

That did not make Error any more relived as he starts to glitch, still scanning the door for anything moving. Nightmare just sighs and shakes his head, closing the bedroom door. Error hears the guardian sigh in annoyance and then walk downstairs. Error looks around at the rest of his room after deciding that his floor is rat-free.

He realizes that there is a window, but it’s so grimy that Error can’t even see through it. Error sighs and looks around for a light switch, or at least a lamp. The room was dark and damp and not much more comfortable than the anti-void. 

The entire castle didn’t fail to fill him with a sense of dread, the feeling that he should be even more on edge than normal. Everybody here knew how it felt to be hated. Knew how it felt to be called insane. But what if people here really ARE insane? From what he’s seen, it seems like the people here are pretty dangerous and violent. A voice in Error’s head reminds him that he was also that way. Insane and violent. 

Error lays on the bed, sighing softly as he looks up at the ceiling. No matter how much he pushes it out of his head, one question won’t go away. No matter what he does, the question still lingers in his mind.

What is Ink doing right now?


End file.
